


Car Crash Hearts

by ladyofstardvst



Category: DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: Blood and Injury, First Meaningful Encounter!, Neighbor AU!, Swearing, and i dont know what this is but! oh well!, theres wit! and speechless dick grayson!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27583780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyofstardvst/pseuds/ladyofstardvst
Summary: Like a blooming night flower, a bud of shocking crimson begun to unfurl through the grey cotton. The petals opened up and up, slowly and slowly breaking free from their cage to breathe in the fresh air, the petrichor, the concern that started to rise within you. He’s fine, my ass.alternatively, 'oh no i think my cute neighbor is the local vigilante'
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Car Crash Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> fulfilled prompt request giving me the excuse to finally write for dick grayson! i dont know what im doing! be gentle! i usually write for jaybird so im like Super Out Of My Element here lmao

Seasons were a fickle thing.

Everything about your part of the world insisted it was autumn. The new month had just arrived in time for that first peek of winter that waited around the corner with impatient bliss. Chills tainted the breeze that carried leaves through the streets. It threatened to turn your breath into a cloud you could touch with your bare hands.

As it happened, summer decided to breathe one last warm kiss goodbye into your lungs to hold you through the dark season. A dramatic goodbye, for a dramatic season.

It was a Wednesday, but it was unseasonably warm. A thunderstorm rolled in during the night, blanketed the city in soft gray clouds and sprinkled rain that was more _inconvenient_ than it was _ruination_. Low, distant rumbles of thunder slipped through closed windows. Lightning flashed across the sky leaving ghostly patterns behind eyelids and flickered awe into imaginations.

Rainfall was still singing steadily into the night after drizzling through the day. Rumbling thunder grew bolder as the sky grew darker, and the hour grew later. A well timed clap and an eerie flash almost covered the _thump_ from the hallway, almost hid the sound of a door slamming shut next door.

Seasons were a fickle thing. And so, it seemed, were neighbors.

 _Strange_.

You’d never heard anything from that side of your apartment before. He was always quiet, kept odd hours and chose not to make friends despite being friendly. That was fair, you realized; not many people were willing to talk to strangers these days. Even _you_ tried to keep your head down every once and a-

 _Oh_.

That wasn’t thunder that sounded beyond your wall.

_Incredibly_ strange _._

Without really thinking, your knuckles collided with the worn wooden door of apartment 304. You waited for it to open, shifted your weight in anticipation.

When it did, you were met with the blue eyes of – _Dick Grayson_ , you remembered. You had met him only a handful of times before: the classic arriving and departing around the same time, even asking him for a quick hand every once and a while. Your conversations were never lengthy, never very personal beyond the offhand exchange of names and terrible small talk. They weren’t memorable, but Dick Grayson seemed to be a warm personality, and that was . . . _comforting_ , in this town that thrived on blood and shadows.

He stood in front of you, door held tight to his side. Dick Grayson seemed a little on edge, his own thunderstorm seethed behind those kind eyes, and – was he starting to get a _black eye?_

“Is uh, everything all right? I heard you _over_ the _storm_ _-_ ” you gestured to your own place, a mere thirteen feet away. “-and sometimes I forget anyone even lives here, so.”

Your name fell through his lips then, an apology laced within his tone when the recognition burned bright in his expression. Dick Grayson relaxed _just enough_ for you to notice, loosened his grip on the door just enough to be casual. _You’re in 306._

_Yeah,_ you replied.  _You’re not dying are you?_

A smile lit up his face –  lit up the dull hallway made darker by the hour too, actually – a nd a quiet laugh tumbled through his chest. It seemed. . .  _practiced_ , almost, but that didn’t stop your stomach from doing a flip. Then another. You smiled back, because  _god_ his was contagious, genuine or otherwise.

“No,” he said, smile lingering. “You’re stuck with me a little bit longer.”

You breathed a laugh, and Dick’s grip on the doorknob tightened. He pushed down the warmth that swelled through his chest, that hugged his heart close and tight.

“Well aren’t I the lucky one?” your tone teased, bright over the lurking gloom of the storm that raged beyond the brick and glass. You heard the screaming wind beyond the threshold Dick seemed to guard with his life, but you weren’t going to pry. “I’ll get out of your hair then. I’ll um, see you around?”

“Yeah,” he answered, then apologized for the noise. “Enjoy your-”

“Dick – _you’re_ _bleedin_ _g.”_

Like a blooming nocturnal flower, a bud of shocking crimson begun to unfurl through the grey cotton. The petals opened up and up, slowly and slowly breaking free from their cage to breathe in the fresh air, the petrichor, the concern that started to rise within you.

_He’s fine, my ass._

Dick Grayson followed your gaze, and immediately begun damage control. Excuses, cover stories, reassurances.

That wasn’t your first rodeo.

“Well if it sounds like a duck and walks like a duck. . .” a vicious crack of thunder drowned out your dig. The windows in Dick’s apartment rattled.

He sympathized, because he could tell you weren’t buying a single thing he was saying. He tuned out the pain of split stitches.

“I _live_ in _Bl_ _ü_ _dhaven,_ Dick _._ I’ve _seen some shit_ , you know. You don’t get an injury like that from a _regular bar fight._ ” your eyes were wide, tone grew a little more frantic than you intended. Your attention split itself between the spreading stain and the _look_ that grew on Dick’s injured face.

You took a breath. Then another. Dick was about to speak, until you noticed one more thing. “And you _might_ want to hide that fancy blue kevlar a little better when you answer the door.”

Dick Grayson, who wore charm and charisma like a second skin, sputtered.

“What the _fuck_.”

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to request things via @bonesofapoet on tumblr


End file.
